Luminescence
by Marie-Claire
Summary: They're the most unlikely pair in Hogwarts... One who prefers the shadows and the dark, the other of perfection and light. But one night can lead to a lot of things... The story of James Potter and Lily Evans thattheir seventh year.
1. Default Chapter

Luminescence  
  
Chapter One: The Start of a Friendship.  
  
It was dark as James Potter made his way down to the common room of Gryffindor House. Contrary to feeling uneasy, however, as many of his peers might have been, he felt comforted by the darkness. Here was where the ghosts of his mind quieted, where they stopped their unintelligible murmurs and whispers. And for that brief period of time in which his spirit was calm, he was thankful. For a long time, the same ghosts had haunted him. visiting him in dreams that were shadowy but still with traces of grim reality that every night, he woke up sweating and panting, unable to recall what his dreams had been about but still feeling the undertones of evil and malice in it. He wore no shoes or slippers. The ancient stones beneath his feet, cold and rough, were almost refreshing against his feverish skin. Farther down through the spiraling staircase, he glimpsed the flickering light that no doubt came from the warm, roaring flame of the common room, the fire that was never extinguished as a rule in the House of Gryffindor. Still, in spite of the warmth and light, shadows flittered around him, following as he made his descent quietly.  
  
He had taken off his glasses, feeling an unfamiliar ache around his temples, and had left them atop his bedside table. Perhaps that was why he did not see her until he was sitting in one of the straight- backed chairs placed in the darkest corner of the room.  
  
She had not seen him yet as well. Otherwise, she would have left immediately, that James knew. It baffled him, yet he was thankful that at least here was a small percent of the female population that he did not have to constantly evade. Their attraction to him was no secret. did they not chase after him in the halls and in classes, trying to elicit even the smallest of reactions from him so that they might boast to their friends how the great James Potter had given them a lingering glance or even a small smile? And James knew why their interest in him was so great. It didn't depend on just his looks, he knew. While his physical appearance was second to none, he knew what attracted them more to him was the supposedly mysterious aura that he had seemed to acquire in his years in Hogwarts. to be more precise, in his years in Hogwarts after the death of his whole family. While remaining the unchallenged leader of the greatest gang of pranksters Hogwarts had ever known, he knew that the whole school had been slightly surprised at his transition from being the happy-go-lucky, playboy prank-king of the Marauders to the darkly handsome, quiet, reclusive, person he had become. And while his professors had been puzzled as well, they had appreciated his newfound seriousness concerning his studies, as well as the new sense of responsibility he had found, so much that the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, had made him Head Boy.  
  
While almost everyone's treatment towards him had changed, largely or slightly, there was still someone whose attitude towards him had not changed the slightest: Lilliana Marie Evans, the Charms Mistress and most- sought-after girl in Hogwarts. She was always unerringly polite towards him, and when they were sometimes partnered in Defense Against Dark Arts where they were always seemed to get the highest marks, she never seemed to be inclined to have anything to do with him other than what their lessons demanded. In truth, she was one of the few females who didn't seem to have an obsession with him.  
  
Her back was turned to him, for she was looking out the window, head tilted back as gazed up at the moonlight. A heavy, silky curtain of a dark red hue spilled lavishly around her shoulders, the slightly curled tips reaching to the middle of her back. It was a rare treat to see her hair like that, he knew. She always wore her hair up. She was wearing a robe over her sleeping clothes, but even that failed to hide her figure. She was petite, certainly, but every part of her body seemed to blend with each other, so that the result was a body that was breathtaking in its beauty. Or actually, James thought, as a small smile tilted up the corners of his lips, that was what his closest friend and co-Marauder Sirius Black said. He was always so vocalized in his appreciation of Lilliana's body, around or out of her presence. Of course, for all of Sirius's efforts on flirting, it was all done in good fun. For some unknown reason, Sirius had long ago told them that he thought that Lilliana or Lily as her closest friends, or the people she most favored, including Sirius, called her, would be one of the few girls that he would not attempt to. for lack of a better term, shag. Or even snog, actually. It was known that Sirius was close friends with Lily, and his attempts at flirting with her never failed to make the Head Girl of Hogwarts laugh.  
  
Suddenly, he lost his breath when a particularly nasty burst of pain lanced through his head, making his temples throb. Fingers raised to his brow, he looked up as he tried to regulate his breathing to normal and was taken aback to find Lilliana standing sideways now and looking at him, the moonlight lighting her features so that her creamy white skin seemed to almost glow with an iridescent light. But it was her eyes that stopped him in his tracks. Eyes so vivid in a uniquely emerald shade of green and shimmering with so much emotion that it left him breathless.  
  
Shaking his head, James fought to clear his mind of his insane musings. Standing up, planning to go back to his dormitories to get his Invisibility Cloak to roam the castle, he was stopped when a lightly musical voice recited softly behind him, "The beauty of the night is wasted."  
  
"When it is spent alone." he finished, a reluctant smile tugging at his lips as he turned to face her. He raised a brow at her as she made her way over to one of the couches near the fire and sat down gracefully. "And from where did you get that?"  
  
"The same place where you came across it," she answered, the firelight twinkling in her eyes. "I do read, you know. I'm surprised you do."  
  
James flicked his eyes to her as he sat down again, this time in a slightly more comfortable position. Checking to see if she was insulting him or just teasing, he saw the amusement in her smile and relaxed. He rearranged his face into a serious expression and said, "As the widely talented, gregarious, charming, clever, daring, famous, incredible, fantastic-"  
  
"-modest?" she supplied with a small grin.  
  
James nodded seriously. "Yes, thank you. Modest leader of the Marauders, reading is a requirement for me."  
  
She raised one delicate eyebrow as she pretended to agree. "Oh?"  
  
"Yes. You see, how would we ever manage to keep up our reputation if we repeated the same pranks over and over again?"  
  
"That is a problem. You know, I always thought Sirie was the mastermind of all your pranks-"  
  
His brow furrowed as he questioned, "Wait, Sirie?" This time, a true grin lightened up the darkly handsome features of his face. "You call Sirius Black, Sirie? And he likes it?"  
  
Lily raised a slender finger to her cheek as she contemplated his question. "You know, when I first called him that, he actually threatened to throw a piece of the pie I had given him back to me if I called him that again. I of course, was offended, and called him Sirie again, resulting in him chucking the whole pie! He was quite chagrined, of course. You see, he loves blueberry pies. And I just love calling him Siri. So I gave him an alternative nickname."  
  
Amusement flickered in James' eyes as he leaned forward. "And that nickname was?"  
  
With a perfectly serious smile, she said innocently, "Blackie."  
  
"Blackie?!!" James's laughter almost drowned out Lily's next words.  
  
Lily nodded again. "He threw a whole cake at me that time." She tilted her head as she frowned at him, "Do you think that means he likes it better than Sirie?"  
  
A chuckle escaped James' lips as he regarded the Head student in a new light. He would never have imagined that she was like this. His impression of her was of cool, frigid politeness always, and it surprised him to see that she had actually a lighter side. Actually, what surprised him the most was that she could get him to laugh like no one ever had.  
  
Suddenly, a loud BONG! that echoed twelve times informed them that it was midnight. Lily rose from her seat and padded back over to the stairs leading to the girls' dormitories. James followed her with his eyes, until she came to the first step, where he finally spoke up, "Evans?"  
  
She turned back, looking at him with an inquiring look in her eyes. "Potter?"  
  
He shook his head. "James," he corrected.  
  
"Then you should call me Lily then, James." She replied with a smile.  
  
"Lily." he tried, rolling the name around in his tongue. It sounded nice. "Lily, then. I'll see you at breakfast tomorrow?"  
  
Her only answer was a smile, and James Potter was alone once more in the common room.  
  
But there was a difference.  
  
For the first time in many, many nights, he was smiling.  
  
"Lily."  
  
~Author's Notes:~  
  
I know most of you don't bother reading author's notes, but still, here's mine! I'm quite a newbie at writing James/Lily stories, so I would really appreciate comments and suggestions if there is any way at all to improve  
this fic.  
You know what that means, don't you? --,  
  
Review!!  
  
Please? *insert pleading look here*  
  
Thank you for reading! 


	2. Something Wonderful

Hey, I'm back! Yes, I know, I know, I really took a long time to update. I'm sorry for the delay, people, but my computer crashed again. I Hate it when that happens!  
  
Thank you, thank you thank you! To all the wonderful people who reviewed this fic, I don't think I can say enough thanks. Almost every review was long and very helpful. And I've really paid attention to all your advice. You really make my day, guys. Thanks again! As we say in Filipino, Maraming Salamat!  
  
Well, there's nothing more I can say except. I really hope you'll like this chapter. It took me a long time coz I really tried to keep James and Lily the same from what I projected earlier in the first chapter. Well, I don't know if it worked. Also, this chapter is where the remaining marauders and some other people finally make their appearance. To tell you the truth, I really am not sure if this will work. Still though. keep the reviews coming and I'll keep the story going! (If it's worth continuing, that is.) And hey, take a look at some quotations that I found. They're amusing, at least for me. But anyways, READ ON!  
  
"I'm tired of all this nonsense about beauty being only skin deep. What do they want-an adorable pancreas?"  
  
-Jean Kerr  
  
"I generally avoid temptation, unless I can't resist it."  
  
-Mae West  
  
"Truth is never pure, and rarely simple."  
  
-Oscar Wilde  
  
Luminescence  
  
Chapter Two:  
  
"MY LIFE IS RUINED!!!"  
  
Heads turned as they followed the path of the rampaging dark-haired guy, who was currently wailing like a wounded buffalo.  
  
"Oh, shut up, Padfoot!" Remus Lupin said irritably as his slate gray eyes narrowed in annoyance at his friend.  
  
"Moony! Work with me here! How can I shut up?!" Sirius Black exclaimed, his expression bordering on despair and an almost comical look of disbelief. "How could she do this to me? I won't be able to hold up my head anymore! Utter humiliation! By Merlin, this is a disgrace, a disaster, a catastrophe! My life is ruinnneeeeddddd-aack!"  
  
He was stopped in mid-sentence by the hand of his other friend, Peter Pettigrew, who was sporting the same irritated look that Remus had. "Sirius, I don't know if I've ever told you this before, but you my friend, are a GIT! Now shut up and put a stopper on it." Remus told him, with Peter nodding vigorously at his side.  
  
Of course, while this whole spectacle was happening, a lot of people were still looking at the trio. But the three friends were oblivious to it. Public appearances were obligatory, at least, for them. People keeping track of their every move was, of course, normal in Hogwarts. They were, after all, part of the beloved group of pranksters extraordinaire of Hogwarts, who else but the Marauders!  
  
Remus Lupin sighed as he raked a hand through his uncommonly fine light brown hair. He regarded his friend carefully, wondering what ever had possessed him to think on the train to Hogwarts during first year that the dark-haired, handsome guy named Sirius Black was serious-pardon the pun,- and studious and sane?! If there ever was a total opposite of the ideal student of Hogwarts, he was sure that it would be Sirius. While James was the brain behind the pranks, Sirius certainly was the pushing force behind it all. Remus had even lost count of the total number of pranks that they had played on the Slytherins because of Sirius' insistence. He hadn't believed James and Sirius when they had announced in second year that their goal in life was to break the record for most detentions of any student who had ever studied in Hogwarts, but he certainly believed it now!  
  
He looked back at his friend and found to his consternation that that the dark-haired boy was still wailing on, only this time he had managed to latch onto Peter, who was visibly struggling to untangle himself from the other's death grip. Sighing again, he muttered, "All I was asking for when I came here to Hogwarts was peace and quiet. Was that too bloody much to ask for?"  
  
"There she is!" Sirius shouted, and Remus groaned, "What is it this time?"  
  
It wasn't hard to spot who Sirius was headed for, though. As usual, Lily Evans was surrounded by her normal large group of friends, a chattering bevy of girls whose mouths all came to a complete halt as they spied Sirius Black running over to them.  
  
The fact that Sirius was extremely desirable to females was no secret to anyone in school. While he was ranked second to James in the official popularity chart of the school (kept updated by the official Society Status- Conscious Club of Hogwarts or the SSCC), it seemed as if girls were as attracted to the Marauder's charmingly boy-ish, slightly preppy good looks and boisterously loud attitude as they were to James' dark, seductive appeal. The total opposite of James, though, who for the last two years had taken to avoiding people like they had the bubonic plague, with the exception of the other Marauders, Sirius was a people-person who got along well with everybody. To Remus, who was the Prefect of Gryffindor House, (what an irony!) He supposed that Sirius was most famous for having escaped detention from Professor McGonagall, the Transfigurations teacher, after he 'accidentally' transfigured all of the tables and chairs in the classroom into skunks, which, apart from being incredibly foul, was also the very thing that McGonagall was allergic to. It was a common joke that aside from being one of the best in Potions, where he was the only Gryffindor who actually stood a chance against Severus Snape, the Slytherin Prefect who was an expert in Potion-Brewing, he also seemed to major in mischief and pranks with a minor in flirting and girls.  
  
Lily Evans, though, Remus contemplated as he studied the interaction of the seventeen year-old with her peers, has a completely different personality. As opposed to Sirius who was excessively bubbly, and James who was slightly intimidating, Lily Evans was a person who would always be in the limelight on top of a pedestal without even having to lift a finger. Maybe it was because she didn't lack anything physically. Of course, she was pretty small, only reaching up to James' shoulder, who was the tallest in their year. But somehow, that factor, combined with her incredibly silky wine red hair, which reached to her waist and curled naturally at the tips and heavy- lashed startlingly emerald eyes, seemed to project an aura of delicateness and elegance that no one else could match. She was elegantly aloof, unfailingly polite, incredibly gracious, and wittingly humorous, perhaps the reason why so few approached her without feeling at least a little bit intimidated, though he knew almost a quarter of the male population had feelings ranging from a simple crush to puppy love to full blown obsession for her. After all, who wouldn't be attracted to perfection? And if she wasn't perfect, well, 'hell!', it was the closest to perfect that anyone could get!  
  
He focused back on the scene with interest, noting how almost all the girls in Lily's group were either patting their intricate hairstyles (which he personally thought was their own brand of torture for themselves) or covertly retouching their makeup as Sirius neared them.  
  
"Sirius! What a pleas-" A blonde girl was just saying coyly as the Marauder neared them. Remus recognized her as Amanda Smeltley, one of the richest girls in Lily's clique. She was a Ravenclaw and had the reputation of being a notorious flirt. Sirius, however, was not to be deterred. "Later, Amanda! Got to talk to Lily here."  
  
The blonde wilted obviously, her blood red lips pouting as she and the other girls watched him drag off their friend.  
  
When Sirius had pulled Lily back to where Remus was standing,-Peter had rushed off, saying that he had to meet a girl somewhere-, Lily adjusted her backpack and smiled up at him. "You needed something, Sirius?"  
  
Remus almost chuckled when he saw his friend's softening expression. It was no secret that Sirius Black had a soft spot for the Head Girl, and he could see now the effect that Lily was creating on him. No matter how much the Marauder ranted about Lily, he was sure that Sirius could never, ever be truly angry with her. He had been, after all, the first of the Marauders to become friends with the girl.  
  
Seeing as how he couldn't get angry with Lily, Sirius settled for pouting instead. With brows drawn together in a slight frown and upper lip jutting forward, he told Lily accusingly, "You told James my nickname."  
  
Remus was sure that he saw a brief grin flash in Lily's face before she was suddenly looking like a puppy that had just been kicked. She hitched up her backpack and with a pitiful backward glance as she started walking, said, "Y-you didn't like the n-nickname? Y-you said you loved it." If Sirius was able to act around Lily like he couldn't with any other girl, Remus was sure that Lily showed a part of her personality to them that she didn't show to anybody else. She loved to tease Sirius, and Remus knew first-hand that she had some pretty wicked comebacks whenever needed.  
  
Sirius suddenly looked highly uncomfortable as he fairly leapt to catch up with the girl. "I-It's not that I didn't like the nickname-" here, Sirius paused to look around casually, then leaned close to whisper, "but couldn't you just keep it to yourself?"  
  
Lily smiled sweetly. "My lips will be sealed. at a high price."  
  
Remus grinned at the horrified expression in Sirius' face as he ran to catch up with Lily, who was walking briskly past the Charms classroom. There she paused for a moment, waving to Professor Flitwick who was waving his wand at her atop a pile of books piled on a chair. "What price?"  
  
"Date Arabella Figg, please, Sirius? She's a Ravenclaw in my Arithmancy class, and one of the few decent girls I know. She really, really likes you." She hitched up her backpack again. Sirius obviously noted this, for he offered to carry her backpack for her. Gratefully, Lily handed her bag over to him. Again, something that he would do only for Lily.  
  
Sirius looked relieved. "Just that? That isn't too high a price." Forget relieved, thought Remus. Sirius looked ecstatic!  
  
Lily nodded at him. "Just that."  
  
They reached the Great Hall a few moments later, and Lily, as usual, sat near the end of the long table reserved for the Gryffindors. Sirius immediately plopped down next to her, at her right, and he patted his right side to indicate that Remus was to sit there. They each took one of the schedules that Professor McGonagall, deputy headmistress of Hogwarts and the head of Gryffindor House, was handing out. Sirius leaned over to look at the brown-haired boy's schedule which he was studying, and Lily's, which she had laid down next to her goblet of iced orange juice.  
  
"We've all got Care of Magical Creatures together, as well as DADA, and -bleh!-Potions! Snivellus again?!" Sirius observed as he piled a hearty serving of eggs and bacon onto his plate. Lily, nibbling on a bite of buttered toast, glanced at her schedule. "I'll have Arithmancy with you, right, Remus?" When the boy nodded, she perused her schedule again. "You forgot that we'll have History of Magic with the Hufflepuffs, Sirius."  
  
Sirius rubbed his hand gleefully together and snickered. "Ooh, we'll have fun with Binns again! You're in for a good show this year, Lily."  
  
She looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "You're not actually planning on going on with the conjure-a-wooden-cross-and-show-it-to-Binns-so-that-he'll- be-banished-to-hell-forever plot, are you?"  
  
Remus snorted, while Sirius had the decency to blush. "No, actually, I'm planning something spectacular with James. Speaking of Jamsie, I wonder where he is? He was gone before I woke up."  
  
Just then, the great oak doors of the Hall opened again and in stepped James Potter with his usual impassive expression, his book bag slung over one shoulder and hair still as messy as ever. Just as they  
  
had done over Sirius and Remus' entrance, almost all of the female populace of Hogwarts, with the exception of a few Slytherins, of course, and Lily, who still continued eating her breakfast serenely, most of the SSCC started primping for their idol. Lily was now buttering a roll and was absolutely paying no attention to the fact that James' gaze had zeroed in on her and he was walking in a beeline towards them.  
  
Suddenly, the double doors banged open once more and in stalked two burly, rough-looking sixth years, (Slytherins probably) who were both covered in a slimy ooze of bright, bright orange and eggplant purple slime, sporting an assortment of extra arms and legs. Several people snickered at the two, who were looking around as if they would spot the culprits who had played the prank on them, (the Marauders, probably, on a scale of ten to ten). The first Marauder they spotted, fortunately or unfortunately, was James, whose back was turned towards them. Sneering, they both pulled out their wands, therefore smearing the slime even more, and aimed it at James, ignoring Professor McGonagall who was standing up from the Head Table, her stern face set in an alarmed expression.  
  
"Tentacula!"  
  
"Densaugeo!" The two Slytherins shouted simultaneously. Sirius, who had been sniggering at the effects of the prank that he had orchestrated, stood up, alarmed, a hand reaching into his pocket for his wand as Remus shouted a warning to James. Just as his fingers found the wooden handle, however, he narrowly avoided being hit by a blue light that passed by his face so closely that he felt the heat redden his cheek. Turning around, he was surprised to see that Lily had stood up as well, her formerly serene expression gone as her eyes narrowed at the scene. Her wand was out, evidence that she had been the one who fired the blast.  
  
In the middle of the Great Hall, James' eyes widened a fraction as the blue light whizzed past him, then hardened as instinct set in and he whipped out his wand as well and shouted, "Protego Nostra!" Immmediately, a dark-blue circular barrier appeared around him as the Protegean Charm, an evolved and more advanced form of the Shield Charm that they had learned in fifth year took effect. Then he whirled around and fired a dark purple blast at the two Slytherins.  
  
The Slytherins who had seen the scene were most certainly vexed that their Housemates did not manage to even scratch the Gryffindor Head Boy. Failure was taboo in the ambitious House of Salazar Slytherin, and it was certain that the two burly Slytherins were in for a long month of their House's cold shoulder. It showed in the way even the other Slytherins showed similar contemptuous sneers as Lily and James' combined spells hit the two and immediately they were thrown back a good two feet.  
  
Professor McGonagall, whose wand was out as well, looked apoplectic with fury at first, and then resigned as the other students erupted into cheers and clapping. Shouting over the noise, she informed them, "Ten points EACH for that attack from Slytherin and five points each from Gryffindor for that bit of retaliation!" It was ignored by most of the Gryffindors, though, all of whom were still cheering. The first years, who had arrived just yesterday and had been Sorted during the Welcome Feast, were looking awestruck, though the older students, who were more familiar with their House's business, were looking at Lily with expressions of slight amazement, though, for they had never seen her actually take on the offensive against any Slytherin before. Sirius' blue eyes mirrored their shock as he sank back into his seat and stared at Lily.  
  
"Bloody hell, Lils! Not that I don't approve, of course, amazing spell by the way, you've got to teach me that sometime, but why in the name of Flitwick's receding hairline did you that?"  
  
Lily just raised her eyebrows innocently as she pocketed her wand. The serene expression was back on her face, looking for the entire world as if she had just finished reading How to Skin a Skinless Morwenna Plant and Other Impossibly Boring Things. "Whatever do you mean?"  
  
Sirius gesticulated wildly with hands and arms as he continued rambling. "That-that! You'd never do a thing like that before! You're, you're a pacifist, peace-friendly," Sirius gestured wildly as he searched for an adjective that would describe what he wanted to say. "You're Lily!"  
  
A shadow fell partly on him before the sardonic voice of James Potter came from behind them. "Sirius, shut up before you hurt yourself."  
  
Sirius gaped at him. "Ha ha, real funny, Jamsie. That was a joke, right?" he demanded. When James didn't answer, instead choosing to sit next to an oblivious Lily, who was now leafing through her Charms textbook, Sirius instead took to stuffing his mouth with pork, muttering about 'people who had no darned sense of humor'. Remus, of course, being the good friend that he was, did not forget to occasionally check on him to make sure that he had not swallowed his fork in his haste to stuff more food into his mouth.  
  
Lily felt eyes on her and she finally looked up, bookmarking the page she was reading with a piece of spare parchment that she fished from her bag. Unsurprisingly, she found herself staring into a pair of expressionlessly cold brown eyes. "Yes?"  
  
James continued staring at her, his eyes unreadable. Then the smallest flicker of amusement glittered in them as he inclined his head towards the book in her hands. "All work and no play will make the Head Girl-"  
  
"Valedictorian of Hogwarts." Lily finished, mimicking his condescending tone. "That wasn't what you really needed, right?"  
  
"You didn't wait for me for breakfast." James said. Lily furrowed her eyebrows ever so slightly at him. That wasn't a playful pout she heard in his voice, right? In all the few conversations she had had with James Potter, he had never sounded this casual. "Why would I wait for you?" she asked, puzzled.  
  
James just continued staring at her, and for a minute, Lily was sure that she had offended him. To her surprise though, his face broke into a grin. Alright, so maybe it was just a slight raising of one corner of his mouth, but it certainly softened the hard contours of his face and Lily found herself being fascinated by the lightening effect it brought to his face. A twinkle appeared in his eyes as he nodded as if to himself. "You know, I like you."  
  
Lily nodded, her face serious. "Thank you. I like you too. Not that way, of course."  
  
This time, a small chuckle actually escaped his lips as he extended his hand towards Lily. "We'll probably both regret this day someday, but in the meantime, I don't think it would hurt to be friends."  
  
Lily stared first at his hand, then at his face for a few moments, her eyes betraying nothing of what she was thinking. In fact, the pause was so long that James' eyes hardened and he moved to retract his hand. Then Lily's face broke into a smile. James didn't know how he knew, but he was sure that it was the first genuine smile that she had ever given him. It was completely unlike what she usually showed to teachers and peers and schoolmates, and for that, he couldn't help feeling inordinately pleased. Before James could move his hand, Lily grasped it firmly. "Friends. Definitely." They grinned at each other, ignoring the members of their individual fan clubs, whose members were taking shots of them. Apparently, it was a field day especially for James' fan club members, who were all frantically fighting for pictures of their Head Boy actually sporting something other than an expressionless expression (?) or a frown, something that he hadn't done in more than a year.  
  
Suddenly, James almost smashed face-first into a plate of mashed potatoes. He didn't miss the innocent jug of pumpkin juice at his right, though, and when he straightened up, it was with sticky liquid dripping from the tips of his hair and nose. Scowling, he turned around to see a grinning Sirius. "Are we having a group hug? Are we? Are we? Yay! You're finally friends with Lilykins!" He gestured over to a puzzled but smiling Remus, who had been observing the exchange between the Head Students with something akin to disbelief. "C'mere Remus."  
  
They both ignored James and Lily's protests and dove laughing, into the fray.  
  
Remus shook his head as he ducked to avoid getting bonked in the head by Sirius' wildly flailing arms. "What a way to start the year!"  
  
"Too bad Pete's not here!" Sirius remarked as they both kept a hold of their friend's faces, both of whom were sporting half-smiles and half- frowns. He looked towards Sirius to agree, then stopped cold. For a second, Remus stared as the lightest flicker of a shadow seemed to come over Lily and James' faces, but then he blinked, and it was gone.  
  
Remus shook his head once and he forced a smile onto his face once more. Lifting up his goblet, he announced, "I propose a toast to a whole new year!"  
  
The others followed suit, even James, whose reluctant expression made him appear as if he were going to have all his teeth pulled than simply lifting his own goblet. They grinned at each other and smiled. "May it be the BEST!"  
  
Well?  
  
How was it?  
  
Incredibly corny?  
  
Disgusting?  
  
Traumatizing?  
  
Whatever, just please, guys, Review! (You can voice out your complaints there!)  
  
Thanks for reading!  
  
I just LOVE you all! ! ! 


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